


you have a choice, you've made it now

by twohourstraffic



Series: take this sinking boat and point it home [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, First Dates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 23:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6541726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twohourstraffic/pseuds/twohourstraffic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bitty asks Jack to come and review another restaurant. Jack panics. It all works itself out in the end thanks, mainly, to Shitty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you have a choice, you've made it now

Four days after Pho Real, Jack’s phone buzzes. He’s in the middle of his twice-daily casual jog around the neighbourhood, so he pauses _Serial_ and checks the notification. Which is quickly joined by others.

 **Eric Bittle:** How do you feel about French?

 **Eric Bittle:** Food, that is

 **Eric Bittle:** For the blog

 **Eric Bittle:** Let me start again

 **Eric Bittle:** Hi Jack, it’s Eric. Any chance you’d like to come help me review Bergerac tomorrow night? I can pay you in sparkling repartee and creme brûlée

 **Eric Bittle:** Wow, thanks for the accents, iMessage! Making me look very cultured :)

 **Eric Bittle:** And the capitalization for your own name???

 **Eric Bittle:** I’ll stop now

Jack restarts his podcast and finishes his run, letting the messages play over in his mind. When he gets home, he shuts and locks the front door, kicks off his shoes, stretches, grabs a glass of water and starts to worry.

Is this a date? Does he have a _date_?

He knows, in his heart of hearts, that this could be a date. Two guys grabbing dinner together at a nice-ish restaurant. In a nice-ish part of town. Where he should probably wear a tie.

But he could be reading it wrong. It could be just a couple of guys being dudes. A food blogger adopting a stray sadsack that he met mid-panic attack in a neighbourhood Vietnamese restaurant. He’s probably a sympathy invite, to be honest.

He does the only thing he can think of. He texts the one person he trusts intimately.

Ten seconds later, he gets a reply.

 **Your Platonic Soulmate** : give me five minutes

Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, his phone starts blasting Wannabe by The Spice Girls. He would change it, but it always warms his heart a few degrees, especially when coupled with the objectively excellent photo that has been set as the contact picture.

“Bro! Do you have a fucking _date_ tomorrow?” Shitty’s voice pouring through the speakers always makes him feel more grounded. More … safe.

He puts the call on speakerphone and begins to make a sandwich. “Wow, right down to it, Shits? What happened to, _How’s it going? Let me tell you about studying for the bar. Here’s how Lardo is._ ”

Shitty lets out a frustrated breath of air before taking a brief interlude in his previous line of questioning. The only logical explanation for his volume is that he’s in a library, but surely he would have walked out for this conversation?

“It is going well. Studying for the bar is fucking impossible, if I have to do any more statutory interpretation I will scream, and Lardo’s excellent. She’s opening her new show next week; if you’re not there she’ll probably cry on all the art and ruin it.”

Jack, nodding along to the summary, senses a break and tries to jump in before it closes again. “That’s really great for her, I’ll definitely do my best to –”

Anyone who thinks that a whisper cannot be both loud and aggressive has never spoken to Shitty while he refuses to relinquish his hard-won seat in the library. “OK, thanks, I’ll pass that on. But let’s talk about the giant fucking elephant in the room, AKA your _date_ tomorrow. Who are they? Where are you going? How did you meet??”

“Short version? We met at a restaurant the other night, when that article about Parse came out, and I had a huge panic attack while eating pho. He just came over and talked me through it. It was … nice.”

“It was _nice_? Marry this man! When was the last time you said that anything was fucking _nice_ , Zimms? God fucking damn it all to hell, I’ve got this fucking deadline on Thursday or I’d come down and help you get ready for it, I could have brought you this sweet-ass tie I had to get last month for a event, it’s honestly fucking gorgeous, it would really bring out your eyes actually, but alas – excuse me, sir?” There’s a brief pause while someone in the background mutters crossly at Shitty. “Well, I’m sorry that my language is upsetting you but swearing is a legitimate form of emphasis. There have been studies conducted that actually suggest that –”

“Shits?” Jack asks plaintively in the phone’s general direction. “Shitty? Bro, I know you have to educate this guy but I have a dilemma with a deadline so if you could just –”

From the sounds of things, Shitty has put down his phone and is writing down the citation for a linguistics study on the legitimacy of swearing. There is a ripping sound before, “Yeah, and it’s peer reviewed so maybe before you interrupt someone’s phone call, next time, you could pull your head out of your ass and consider the possibility that your truths are not universal. Have a good day, man.”

There is some disgruntled muttering before Jack finally hears, “Fuck, sorry bro, just had to educate some fucking opinionated tool who didn’t agree with my methods. Anyway, where were we?”

“My not-date tomorrow night!” Jack moans. “He texted about an hour ago and I don’t know what to say.”

Shitty sighs into the phone, deep and long. “Jack. Babe. Reply to this man, then come back to me.”

Before Jack can do as he’s told, Shitty breaks in with a, “Wait, read me the messages?” Jack does as he’s told, and there’s a moment of silence while Shitty contemplates before Jack can’t take it any more.

“Shits, please. For the love of God, please tell me what to do.”

“OK, here’s my analysis of the situation,” Shitty begins. “He’s giving you the opportunity to do with this what you will. By mentioning the review, he’s offering the chance to keep it profesh, casual.”

Jack sighs. “OK, thanks. But –“

Shitty ignores him completely. “ _But_ , by inviting you to Bergerac, which Google says is ‘smart-casual with a romantic atmosphere; a perfect first date spot’, he’s obviously putting his cards on the table. Oh, and Lardo agrees.”

“Wait, when did Lardo join this conversation?”

“When I asked her for her opinion. She’s much better at reading this shit than I am.”

Jack sighs, but with love, and quickly types out a reply to Eric asking about time and dress code. “Now what?” he mutters.

Shitty laughs fondly. “Now, we wait.”

Not for long. Less than five minutes later, Jack’s phone vibrates.

 **Eric Bittle:** I’ve made a reservation for 7:30. Dress code is smart casual. No pressure, but I may crack out a bowtie.

He passes the message onto Shitty, who laughs delightedly. “Oh my god, Jackie, you’re in so deep. I can hear it in your voice.”

* * *

Their not-date at Bergerac is perfect. Jack feels like he’s cleaned up well. Eric looks radiant. They eat steak and drink mocktails and Eric steals Jack’s fries. They chat about everything and nothing.

* * *

They’re at Jimmy Grant’s when Eric asks Jack to call him Bitty. “You know, if you want, it’s just what my friends call me.”

* * *

They’re at Ramen Ya when Jack holds Bitty’s hand for the first time. Bitty blushes brightly but doesn’t let go until they kiss goodnight at the taxi rank.

* * *

Their second kiss is outside Charlie & Co. It’s snowing and cold and perfect.

* * *

After some truly excellent dumplings at Din Tai Fun, Jack invites Bitty back for a cup of tea. Their fingers bump through their thick gloves before Jack decides to take the leap and grab Bitty’s hand again. His smile could power a city block.

* * *

The morning after their first time, Bitty turns to Jack and says, very innocently, “So, I hear that there’s a good brunch place a few blocks away. Any chance you might want to –”

The rest of his sentence is cut off by Jack hitting him in the arm with a pillow and then kissing him softly.

When he can finally breathe again, Bitty smiles, wrinkling his nose. “Come on. For the blog?”

Jack wrinkles his nose back. “Well, I know how you feel about restaurant reviews.”

They make it there eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> All restaurant names are places in Melbourne. Come visit, we have good food! Also, come say hi on [Tumblr](http://murrayhewitt.tumblr.com)?


End file.
